Crude supplies along the Gulf Coast declined 3.8 million barrels which would normally trumpet price increases but the other fundamentals dictated that NYMEX futures fall and fall they did. Unexpectedly, gasoline stock piles grew 2.25 million barrels and distillate increased 1.62 million barrels. In a move to get rid of expensive inventory being held at refinery storage, refinery utilization rose to 81.1% but this is still historically low. This is because demand numbers again dropped by 3%. Utilization also went up despite crack spreads falling by 12%. Analysts are now saying that traders are betting on lower prices and are selling. One of the technical traders was quoted as saying that crude was on the way to $65. Crude certainly did not take long to get out of the $75 - $80 trading range. From the 438th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto to 2 days after the 68th anniversary of Pearl Harbor are the lows for this period. We may reach another low tomorrow as this is now 6 straight days of decreases.
For the day, crude -$2.57 to $70.40, gasoline -6.8 cents to $1.8625, distillate -7.7 cents to $1.914 (think of all that snow and blizzards in the mid-West).
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